Data display server, data display method and program thereof

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to recommendation of items to a user for providing items more satisfying a user&#39;s request on the basis of new association. The present invention provides a data display server connected to a user terminal, which includes a posting database for storing posting data posted through the user terminal, a reference data base for storing reference data, relational metadata generating means which generates relational metadata making association between two pieces of reference data, and a relational database for storing the relational metadata. According to the arrangement, tight linking between reference data is made possible so that items more suitable for a user&#39;s preference can be recommended.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/785,996, filed on May 24, 2010, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 11/028,584, filed Jan. 5, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No.7,734,650, issued on Jun. 8, 2010. This application is based upon andclaims the benefit of Japanese Priority Document JP 2004-002072, filedin the Japanese Patent Office on Jan. 7, 2004, the entire contents ofeach of which are being incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a data display server that performs adisplay of prescribed data by taking advantage of an inter-datarelevancy, and also a data display method and a program thereof.

2. Description of Related Art

In nowadays, an information providing system available over an Internethas provided a service of a content base filtering etc. that associatessimilar content with each other depending on a substance of content torecommend, for a user, contents included in the associated similarcontent and not purchased by the user yet.

The above service requires detailed information about the contentitself, and besides, a high-degree knowledge processing system capableof inferring an inter-category relevancy is separately required for arecommendation given across categories, resulting in a need to limit arange of the categories.

To avoid problems like the above, there is provided a service of acooperative filtering etc. that associates content having beenco-purchased in the past with each other based on purchase informationof other users having a similar taste to recommend content not purchasedby the user yet (See a non-patent document 1, for instance).

However, even a system like the above applies, to a key, merelyinformation representing an occurrence of a co-purchase case in thepast, so that there is no special relationship between the contents,resulting in a problem of a non-persuasive recommendation, that is,recommendation of little interest.

NON-PATENT DOCUMENT 1

-   “Information Recommend”, [online], [Retrieved on Dec. 19, 2003],    Internet<http://www-toralab.ics.nitech.ac.jp/research/past/2002/papits/InformationRecommend-e.html>

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been undertaken in view of the above problemswith the conventional information providing services, and is intended toprovide a novel and improved data display server that is capable ofcreating a new association (relational metadata) by inferring aninter-reference data relationship from reference data about content andposting data sent to a bulletin board etc. that the user visits, andalso a data display method and a program thereof.

Further, the present invention is also intended to provide a datadisplay server that is capable of recommending an item more meeting auser's requirement by displaying reference data and relational dataassociated with the reference data, together with a reason for therelationship to the reference data, and also a data display method and aprogram thereof.

To solve the above problems, according to a first aspect of the presentinvention, there is provided a data display server connected to a userterminal to display prescribed data in response to a request through theuser terminal, wherein the data display server comprises a postingdatabase that holds posting data having been posted through the userterminal; a reference database that holds reference data specified by areference data ID contained in the posting data; relational metadatagenerating means of extracting the reference data ID one by one fromeach posting data according to a relationship between two posting datato generate relational metadata with two extracted reference data IDscontained; a relational database that holds the generated relationalmetadata; and relational data juxtaposing means of juxtaposing anddisplaying, on a display of the user terminal in response to a referencedata browsing request from the user, the reference data and relationaldata associated with the reference data by the relational metadata.

Hereupon, the user terminal and the data display server include apersonal computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a mobile phoneand a teleconference system, and the keyword is given, on an object tobe searched with a retrieval function, in words and phrases that areindicative of features of the object. Further, the reference data isallowable to contain the reference data ID, a reference data name, analias reference data name, a model number, a manufacturer name, acategory, a descriptive text, an image URL, a price and a release date.

The above data display server is mainly intended to associate thereference data with each other, that is, generate the relationalmetadata. When responsive posting data is generated in the form of areply to the posting data in a bulletin board etc. that the user visits,for instance, a strong relationship based on an equal or extremelyclose-related subject is supposed to be created between these postingdata, in which case, data (the reference data in this place) having beenreferred to in the above posting data each other may be also consideredto bear the strong relationship with each other likewise the aboveposting data. A generation of the relational metadata is performed byextracting the reference data ID specified as an ID of the abovereference data from each posting data one by one, and by associating thetwo extracted reference data IDs with each other.

The relational metadata is stored after being generated through aninter-user information interchange of the posting data having beenposted by the user and the responsive posting data etc. generated inresponse to the posting data. The above relational metadata may providea prescribed association for each independently referred-to referencedata, and a centralized management of the above association may beperformed with the relational database independent of the referencedatabase. As described above, the inter-user information interchangecauses the inter-reference data association to be performedautomatically, and ensures that a stronger association having been notavailable heretofore is defined.

The above relational data juxtaposing means enables the reference datathat the user desires and the relational data associated with thereference data to be referred to at a time. Further, it may well be thatthe relational data matches information useful to the user, leading to alarger extent of information that the user can refer.

Further, the above relational data juxtaposing means is capable of beingused at the time when, with reference to all the displays adapted to thedisplay of the reference data at a retrieval time etc., an attempt ismade to confirm product information of the displayed reference data,leading to a recommendation of different relational data everypresentation of the information of the reference data.

The relational metadata is also allowable to be generated depending onrelations in a way to use the reference data, a function, an effect, acombination, a similarity and a purchase history etc.

Just as almost questions are settled with FAQ on a web server, there aresome cases where the user may solve the problem merely by viewing therelational data, provided that the above relational data is generatedfrom a relationship of answers to user questions (the above relationshipin the combination), for instance. Further, if the relationship in thesimilarity is available, a larger choice is also supposed to beobtainable by referring to items similar to a certain item being underexamination of purchasing or not.

The relational metadata has a parameter on a degree of relevancy, andensures that the degree of relevancy may be set high depending on thenumber of relational metadata containing the two reference data IDsequal to each other.

An approach to a definition of the above degree of relevancy makes itpossible to provide information highly serviceable to the user. Hence,when the relational metadata equal in association to each other exists,the degree of relevancy of the above relational metadata is incremented,while no generation of duplicate relational metadata is caused. That is,the relational metadata is summarized.

The data display server is also allowable to further have relationcounting means of counting the relational metadata containing tworeference data IDs equal to each other.

The above relation counting means derives the degree of relevancy bycounting the relational metadata every occurrence of the reference tothe degree of relevancy. Hence, even when the equal relational metadataexists, no summarization of the relational metadata is required to leaveall the relational metadata as they are. A configuration like the aboveenables a direct confirmation of a generation history of the relationalmetadata.

The relational data juxtaposing means may be also set to display theabove relational data preferentially in descending order of the degreeof relevancy representing how strong the relational data bears therelationship with the reference data. Alternatively, when no definitionof the degree of relevancy is given, the relational data is alsoallowable to be displayed preferentially depending on the number ofidentical relational metadata.

The approach to the definition of the above degree of relevancy makes itpossible to set a priority suited to usefulness to the user, leading toan arrangement of the relational data at a position easily available forthe user according to the priority.

The data display server is also allowable to further have a userdatabase containing user data specified as personal information of theuser, wherein a display order of the above relational data is changed bymaking use of the user data.

The above user data contains a user ID, a user name, a password, a mailaddress, a category of interest, a retrieval history, a browse history,a posting history and a purchase history, and is further allowable tocontain personal information about user attributes such as sex, age andoccupation. The utilization of the above user data makes it possible toprovide information suited to the user attributes. Further, theutilization of the user data in cooperation with the above relationaldatabase is also allowable to provide information more useful to theuser. In addition, the information of the above posting data may be alsoreflected in the user data as the personal information of a user whoposted the posting data. The information of the reference data attachedto the posting data posted by the user is effective in characterizingthe user attributes contained in the user data.

The relational data juxtaposing means may be also set to display theabove relational data in an order suited to a type of relationship tothe above reference data, and the type of relationship to the abovereference data is allowable to include the relations in the way to usethe reference data, the function, the effect, the combination, thesimilarity and the purchase history.

The above type of relationship permits the user to define how thereference data bear the relationship with each other, leading to aconstruction of the association in which a user's intention is reflectedstill more. Further, in a case of the display of the relational data bythe relational data juxtaposing means, the displayed relational datapermits the user to easily grasp how the relational data bears therelationship with the reference data.

The reference database may be also set to hold category datarepresenting a category of the above reference data.

In a system making use of the posting data, the items and the servicesare supposed to be normally available as the reference data, and afrequency of use for the items and the services is also assumed to behigh. In this system, the category data is also held to put the itemsand the services in order according to the category defined as ahigh-order concept of the items and the services. Thus, the items or theservices that belong to the same or similar category may be judged tohave the high degree of relevancy, and an addition of a certain degreeof relevancy is also applicable to the items or the services that belongto the same category.

To solve the above problems, according to a second aspect of the presentinvention, there is also provided a data display server connected to auser terminal to display prescribed data in response to a requestthrough the user terminal, wherein the data display server comprises areference database that holds reference data capable of being referredto by a user; message creating means of permitting the user to create,through the user terminal, a message to be posted; keyword input meansof permitting the user to input, through the user terminal, a keyword ofreference data about contents of the message; reference data retrievingmeans of retrieving the reference data from the reference database bythe keyword; reference data juxtaposing means of juxtaposing anddisplaying, on a display of the user terminal, one or more pieces ofreference data resulting from the retrieval; reference data selectingmeans of permitting the user to select, through the user terminal, thereference data attached to posting data from the displayed referencedata; posting means of permitting the user to post, through the userterminal, the posting data containing a reference data ID(Identification) of the reference data selected by the reference dataselecting means; a posting database that holds the posting data havingbeen posted through the user terminal; and posting browsing means ofdisplaying, on the display of the user terminal in response to a postingdata browsing request from the user, the posting data and the referencedata specified by the reference data ID contained in the posting data.

Unlike the related art in which the item referred to in the postingcontents is displayed in the form of a text or a URL (Uniform ResourceLocator), a configuration like the above enables a direct attachment ofthe reference data of the referred-to item in a case of the informationinterchange through the bulletin board etc., so that posting authors mayinterchange accurate information with each other. That is, a differentuser who finishes reading the posted message may specify the referencedata shown in the message and narrow down information to be replied.Further, the attempt of the above different user to send the replycauses a reply-sending user (which will be hereinafter also referred toas a reply user) to attach the reference data to a responsive message,and besides, a further different user who finishes reading the postedresponsive message to easily understand the contents of the aboveresponsive message. In this manner, a mutual understanding between theusers may be surely promoted.

The data display server is also allowable to further have reference datadisplay means of displaying, on a part of a posting display of the userterminal, the reference data selected by the reference data selectingmeans.

A configuration like the above enables the confirmation of the referencedata attached to the posting data, before the posting data is posted.Further, a retouching of the message to be posted is also permitted withreference to the detailed information of the reference data.

The data display server is also allowable to have a function of thebulletin board available for a plurality of users to carry out theinformation interchange over a communication network.

The bulletin board is given as a typical instance in which theinformation interchange is carried on with the posting data. Further, anapplication to a chat, a mailing list, a diary-WEB LOG Track Back, aninstant message and an electronic mail etc. that are equal in functionwith the bulletin board is also acceptable. Furthermore, a format inwhich impressions, evaluations and word-to-mouth communicationinformation are added to the reference data is also capable of beingused for the present invention, provided that the reference data isspecified.

The reference data attached to the responsive posting carried out inresponse to the above posting may also be recommended reference data forthe user who posted the posting data.

Further, the reference data and the relational data may also be data ofan item or service, or otherwise, metadata representing attributeinformation and relational information representing the relationshipwith different objects is also available.

There is provided not only a program that functions as the data displayserver through a computer, but also a data display method of displayingprescribed data in response to the request through the user terminal bymaking use of the data display server and the user terminal.

The user terminal and the data display server as described above may beconfigured in the form of a single apparatus, in which case, the userterminal may be set to perform functions of the data display serverindependently. Further, each database in the data display server may bealso configured in the form of a respectively independent unit.

According to the present invention described above, the inter-referencedata relationship is inferred from the posting data posted to thebulletin board etc. that the user visits and the reference data withregard to the content, leading to generation of the new association.Further, the relational data associated in this manner is displayedtogether with the reason for the relationship of the relational data toensure that the item more meeting the user's requirement is recommended.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a data display system ina first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a structure of a data display server;

FIG. 3 is a structural view showing a structure of posting data;

FIG. 4 is a structural view showing a structure of a database in thedata display server;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process from message creation to postingdata display;

FIG. 6 is a view showing a bulletin board posting display for inputtinga posting message;

FIG. 7 is a view showing an item retrieval display for retrieving itemdata;

FIG. 8 is a view showing a retrieval result display;

FIG. 9 is a view showing a bulletin board posting display on which theitem data is displayed;

FIG. 10 is a view showing a display of posting data in the bulletinboard;

FIG. 11 is a bulletin board posting display for replying to the postingdata;

FIG. 12 is a view showing the bulletin board;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a flow of a relational metadatageneration process;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a flow of a relational data juxtaposingprocess;

FIG. 15 is a view showing a product information display;

FIG. 16 is a view showing a bulletin board posting display on which asection of selecting a type of relationship is added;

FIG. 17 is a view showing a product information display;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a structure of a data display serveraccording to a modified example 2;

FIG. 19 is a structural view showing a structure of a database in thedata display server of the modified example 2;

FIG. 20 is a view showing a personal information inputting display;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing a flow of a relational data juxtaposingprocess according to the modified example 2; and

FIG. 22 is a view showing a product information display.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is hereinafter describedin detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted that,in the present specification and the drawings, components having thesubstantially same functional configuration are given like referencenumerals to omit a duplicate description.

First Embodiment Data Display System

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a data display system ina first embodiment of the present invention. The above data displaysystem is composed of a communication network 110, a user terminal 112and a data display server 114. This section describes a system thatcreates posting data through the user terminal 112, and associatesreference data with each other based on an interchange of the aboveposting data, that is, generates relational metadata to displayprescribed data by making use of the relational metadata.

The communication network 110 includes a network of the Internetavailable as a public line network, for instance, and is connected to aserver and each terminal through a telephone line etc.

The user terminal 112 creates the posting data posted to a bulletinboard managed with the data display server 114, and sends the postingdata to the data display server 114. Further, a browsing of relationaldata associated with the reference data may be performed through thedata display server 114. That is, a recommendation service with therelational data is made possible.

The data display server 114 generates the relational metadata based onthe posting data received through the user terminal 112, and recommendsmore persuasive relational data, as compared with earlier one, based onthe relational metadata. Further, this data display server is alsooperated as the bulletin board to hold the posting data received throughthe user terminal 112 and to display the posting data therein inresponse to a browsing request supplied through the user terminal 112 ora different user terminal 116. The display of the data relevant to theabove is given in time series to ensure that addition to the bulletinboard is performed in a posting order.

With a configuration like the above, a user firstly creates the postingdata through the user terminal 112. Then, an item is retrieved by givinga keyword of the item, for instance, relating to a subject beingreferred to in the posting data. A selection of item data available asthe relevant reference data from a result of retrieval causes theselected item data to be attached to the posting data, leading to adisplay of the item data such as an item image together with articles ofthe posting data on the bulletin board. Further, when the different userterminal 116 performs the browsing of the above posting data, createsresponsive posting data to the above posting data, and then sends areply with the suitable item data attached, a prescribed relationship iscreated between the item data in the posting data and that in theresponsive posting data.

An attachment of the item data like the above makes it possible toestablish an association by placing a focus on fellow item data. Theitems associated with each other by a plurality of posting data are usedto narrow down information or give a recommendation of the item.

The above recommendation may include one resulting from the associationdepending on attributes of the item, in which case, however, attributeinformation is required for the association, and a definition once givento a prescribed attribute causes a judgment only on the relationship ofa defined attribute to be made in the following processing. Further,there is also heretofore provided a cooperative filtering that definesthe users having a similar purchase history as similar users torecommend the item having been purchased in the past by the similarusers, in which case, however, an occurrence of a hit item enjoying alarge number of purchasers requires a vast number of similar usersdescribed the above, resulting in a difficulty in giving therecommendation meeting an intention of the present invention.

Alternatively, there is also provided a method in which the user freelyassigns a keyword to an item of interest to associate with a differentitem, in which case, however, for a reason that the keyword is notspecified, different keywords are attached to the same item, resultingin no adaptability to an automation of the inter-item association.

The data display system of the first embodiment of the present inventionis not to permit the user to create the relational metadata directly,but to provide the relationship for the data display server through theselection of the item. Thus, the relational metadata is createdregularly and automatically in the data display server and is used forvarious services such as the recommendation of the item for the user.

Second Embodiment Data Display Server 114

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the data displayserver 114 in the data display system. The above data display server 114is intended to associate the reference data with each other, that is,generate the relational metadata, wherein the association is performedbased on a concept in which the posting data adapted to the informationinterchange among the users would bear a strong relationship with eachother.

The data display server 114 is composed of a data display control unit130, a reference database 132, message creating means 134, keyword inputmeans 136, reference data retrieving means 138, reference datajuxtaposing means 140, reference data selecting means 142, referencedata display means 144, posting means 146, a posting database 148,relational metadata generating means 150, a relational database 152,posting browsing means 154 and relational data juxtaposing means 156.

The data display control unit 130 manages and controls the data displayserver 114 through a control unit including a central processing unit(CPU).

The reference database 132 holds the reference data that the user canrefer to. The reference data like the above is not only held in the datadisplay server 114 of the present invention, but also linked to anexternal database that provides the reference data. When the item datais given as the reference data, for instance, a link to a database of amanufacturer specified as a creator of the item data may be establishedfor a reference to details about the item data. As to the item datadescribed the above, the above manufacturer is possessed of accurate anddetailed data, while it is difficult to register and update all theabove items with the data display server 114. On the contrary, when noreference data exists in the reference database 132, the user is alsopermitted to post the reference data to the reference database 132.However, the creation of the reference data, if being allowed for theuser at will, results in a hindrance to a generation of typical andaccurate reference data, so that a posting of the reference data isrestricted in some degree.

The message creating means 134 permits the user to create, through theuser terminal 112, a message to be posted.

The keyword input means 136 permits the user to input, through the userterminal 112, the keyword of the reference data about the contents ofthe above message, that is, the item data referred to in the message tospecify the above referred-to item data, for instance. It is preferablethat the reference data matches the item or service data.

The reference data retrieving means 138 retrieves the reference datafrom the reference database 132 using the above keyword. The retrievalfrom the reference database 132 in this manner may provide a unifiedretrieval result.

The reference data juxtaposing means 140 juxtaposes and displays one ormore pieces of reference data resulting from the above retrieval on thedisplay of the user terminal 112. The use of only the keyword given bythe user often provides plural pieces of reference data serving as anobject. Thus, the resultant plural pieces of reference data are placedin juxtaposition on the display of the user terminal 112 to cause theuser to specify the reference data that fulfills the user's intention.

The reference data selecting means 142 permits the user to select thereference data to be attached to the posting data from the referencedata or the relational data displayed by the reference data juxtaposingmeans or the relational data juxtaposing means 156. In this manner, theuser is permitted to specify the reference data referred to in themessage to be posted. A selection of plural pieces of reference data isalso allowable.

The reference data display means 144 displays, on a part of a postingdisplay, the reference data selected by the reference data selectingmeans 142. The above reference data contains a reference data ID, areference data name, an alias reference data name, a model number, amanufacturer name, a category, a descriptive text, an image URL, a priceand a release date. The user may confirm the reference data to beattached to the posting data before bringing the posting into execution.

The posting means 146 posts, to the data display server 114, the postingdata containing the reference data ID of the reference data selected bythe reference data selecting means 142. The posting data matches datawritten on the bulletin board available for a plurality of users tocarry out the information interchange over the communication network.

The posting database 148 holds the posting data containing a postingmessage text and the reference data ID.

The relational metadata generating means 150 generates the relationalmetadata. The relational metadata matches metadata generated in the formof a parallel entry of a plurality of reference data IDs of thereference data referred to in the posting data by, when it is judgedthat there is a relationship among plural pieces of posting data to eachother, associating the above referred-to reference data with each otherdepending on the inter-posting data relationship. Normally, the postingdata to be associated is two in number, and an extraction of thereference data ID one by one from each posting data is performed,leading to the generation of the relational metadata containing the twoextracted reference data IDs.

Further, the relational metadata contains a relational metadata ID, acreation date/time, an updating date/time and a degree of relevancy, inaddition to the above reference data IDs. The degree of relevancy statedherein indicates how close the above relationship is, and may be givenin terms of the total number of identical relational metadata. When therelational metadata given by the identical reference data ID exists, forinstance, new relational metadata is not generated, while a numericalvalue of the degree of relevancy of the existing relational metadata isincremented.

The relational database 152 holds the above relational metadata. Whenthe identical relational metadata exists in the relational database 152,the degree of relevancy of the relational metadata is incremented byone, while the other relational metadata is deleted from the relationaldatabase 152.

The posting browsing means 154 displays the above posting data and thereference data specified by the reference data ID contained in theposting data in response to the browsing request from the user. The userrequesting browsing, that is, the user who finishes making the referenceto the posting data on the bulletin board etc. may confirm also thereference data about the posting contents, together with the postingcontents, leading to a more secure understanding of the postingcontents.

The relational data juxtaposing means 156 juxtaposes and displays thereference data and the relational data associated with the abovereference data by the relational metadata on the display of the userterminal 112 in response to the reference data browsing request from theuser. The display of not only the reference data that fulfills theuser's intention but also the relational data supposed to be serviceableto the user provides a larger choice for the user. Further, therelational data juxtaposing means is capable of being used at the timewhen, with reference to all the displays adapted to the display of thereference data at the retrieval time etc., the attempt is made toconfirm the product information of the reference data, leading to therecommendation of different relational data as well every presentationof the information of the reference data. For the above reason, therelational data are arranged at a position easily available for the userin descending order of the degree of relevancy, that is, in a certainorder suited to the serviceability for the user. Alternatively, therelational data is also allowable to be displayed for each type ofrelationship described above depending on the user's taste.

The type of relationship stated herein includes the function, theeffect, the combination, the similarity and the purchase history etc.When the inter-item data relationship is defined as the reference data,for instance, items equal or similar in the function, items equal orsimilar in the effect, combination items having means of solving theproblems of the item or meeting the intention thereof, items similar ina shape or an available purpose, or items etc. associated with eachother by inferring the user's taste from the purchase history areavailable. It is possible for the user to define the above type ofrelationship in a prescribed range. The display of the above type ofrelationship permits the user to grasp how the relational data bears therelationship with the reference data.

Further, there is also provided a computer program that is set tofunction as the data display server 114 through a computer.

As described above, the inter-reference data relationship is inferredfrom the reference data in the posting data posted to the bulletin boardetc. that the user visits to perform a management of two associatedreference data by the relational metadata. The use of the relationalmetadata enables the relational data associated with the reference datato be displayed together with the reason for the relationship to thereference data, leading to the recommendation of the item more meetingthe user's requirement.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a posting data configuration. Postingdata 170 is composed of a posting ID 180, a parent posting ID 182, auser name 184, a posting date/time 184, a title 188, a text 190 and areference data ID 192.

The posting ID 180 is an ID that indicates the posting data, and theparent posting ID 182 is an ID that indicates “parent” posting dataobtained when, provided that present posting data is assumed to be areply to different posting data, the different posting data and thepresent posting data are respectively specified as “parent” and “child”.The user name 184 indicates a name or a title of the user who posted theposting, the posting date/time 186 indicates a sending date/time of theposting data, the title 188 is a title attached to the present postingdata, the text 190 is a message text created by the message creatingmeans 134, and the reference data ID 192 is an ID of the reference dataselected by the reference data selecting means 142 as the features ofthe second embodiment of the present invention. In this case, theselection of a plurality of reference data IDs is allowable.

Third Embodiment Database Structure of the Data Display Server 114

FIG. 4 is a view showing a structure of the database in the data displayserver 114. As described above, the database of the data display server114 is composed of the posting database 148, the reference database 132and the relational database 152, and these databases hold the postingdata, the reference data and the relational metadata, respectively. Thissection gives the item data as the reference data. The relationshipamong data respectively held in the databases is described in thefollowing.

The posting data 170 refers to item data 172, and posting data 240refers to item data 242.

The item data 172 is composed of an item data ID 246, an item name 248,an alias item name 250, a model number 252, a manufacturer name 254, acategory 256, a descriptive text 258, an image URL 260, a price 262 anda release date 264. The item data ID 246 is an ID of the item data, andthe item name 248 indicates an official name of the item. The alias itemname 250 indicates a variation of names such as abbreviations andbynames available for the retrieval of the present item, the modelnumber 252 indicates a manufacturer model number of the item, themanufacturer name 254 indicates a name of a manufacturer and thecategory 256 indicates a category to which the present item belongs. Thedescriptive text 258 is a text containing a detailed description of theitem, and the image URL 260 is a link address available for thereference to the image data. The price 262 and the release date 264 arerespectively a price and a release date of the item.

The posting data 240 is an answer to a question of the posting data 170,and is thus assumed to bear the combination relationship with theposting data 170. Thus, the data display server 114 judges the postingdata 170 and the posting data 240 to bear the prescribed relationshipwith each other, and associates the item data 172 referred to in theposting data 170 with the item data 242 referred to in the posting data240.

The above association is established by means of separately managing theitem data ID 246 of the item data 172 and the item data ID 266 of theitem data 242 by different independent data. The independent data is therelational metadata 268. The relational metadata 268 contains arelational metadata ID 280, a creation date/time 282, an updatingdate/time 284, a degree of relevancy 286, and a type of relationship288, in addition to the two item data IDs 246 and 266. The relationalmetadata ID 280 is an ID of the relational metadata, the creationdate/time 282 is a first creation date/time of the present relationalmetadata 268, the updating date/time 284 indicates a date/time updatedby a change etc. of the degree of relevancy 286, the degree of relevancy286 is given in terms of a numerical value to indicate how close therelationship is, and the type of relationship 288 indicates therelationship in the way to use the reference data, the function, theeffect, the combination, the similarity and the purchase history etc.The numerical value of the degree of relevancy 286 is incremented by oneat the time when the generation of the relational data containing theitem data IDs 246 and 266 equal to each other is attempted.

The relationship between the posting data 170 and the posting data 240described above is supposed to be equivalent to a relationship of“parent” to “child”, and the association established by a user'sintervention like the above also provides the inter-item dataassociation, leading to the generation of the relational metadata 268.The relational metadata is stored at any time through an establishmentof the association described above.

Fourth Embodiment Data Display Method

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a posting data generating process prior toa stage of the generation of the relational metadata, as a processcontained in the data display method. The data display method accordingto a fourth embodiment of the present invention is described mainly withreference to the flowchart of FIG. 5. The attachment of the referencedata shown in the fourth embodiment of the present invention to theinter-user posting data makes it possible to replace the relationshipbetween the posting data by the relationship between the reference dataattached to the posting data. A process of attaching the reference datato the posting data as described later promotes the generation of therelational metadata. This section gives the item data as the referencedata.

First of all, a message creation step S310 is performed to permit theuser to create, through the user terminal 112, a message to be posted.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a bulletin board posting display 350 availablefor an entry of the posting message. The bulletin board posting display350 is provided from the data display server 114 through the userterminal 112. In the bulletin board posting display 350, it is assumedthat the user who posted the posting makes entries of the user name“Taro” into a user name field 352 and a title into a title field 354 andthen creates a message on a text field 356.

The user makes a choice as to whether or not the attachment of the itemdata being referred to in the above message to the posting data havingbeen created in this manner is required (S312). In a case where the userrequires no attachment of the item data, the posting data is formed onlywith the above message, leading to the posting of the posting data by aposting step S328. In the bulletin board posting display 350 of FIG. 6,a “Post” button 358 is touched when the posting is brought intoexecution, or a “Cancel” button 360 is touched in a case where theposting is to be canceled.

The user, in a case desiring the attachment of the item data, touches an“Add” button 362 on the bulletin board posting display 350 to retrievethe item data that fulfills the user's intention.

FIG. 7 is a view showing an item retrieval display 370 available for theretrieval of the item data. The data display server 114 performs akeyword input step S314 to permit the user to input, through the userterminal 112, the keyword of the reference data about the contents ofthe above message. In the item retrieval display 370 of FIG. 7, it isassumed that the attempt is made to specify the item data, provided that“AV apparatus” is selected from a category field 376 after the entriesof the item name “Gocoon” into an item name field 372 and themanufacturer name “SOMY” into a manufacturer field 374. This retrievalwith the keyword may leave out any uncertain keyword (a model numberfield 378, for instance), and the entry of more than one keyword into asingle field is also allowable. Then, a “Retrieve” button 380 on theitem retrieval display 370 is touched in a case where the retrieval isbrought into execution, or a “Cancel” button 382 is touched in a casewhere the retrieval is canceled.

A touch of the “Retrieve” button 380 causes the item data to beretrieved from the reference database 132 of the data display server 114based on the supplied keyword by a reference data retrieval step S316.

The item data having been retrieved by the reference data retrieval stepS316 are juxtaposed and displayed on a retrieval result display by areference data juxtaposing step S318.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a retrieval result display 390. In a casewhere, provided that the item data inferred as the relevant data fromthe supplied keyword are placed in juxtaposition, the item data thatfulfills the user's intention is contained in the above item data(S320), a reference data selection step S322 is performed to permit theuser to select the item data to be attached to the posting data from thedisplayed item data. In a case where no reference data is contained, aretry of the process from the keyword input step S314 is required.

In the retrieval result display 390 of FIG. 8, there are displayed fouritems by the reference data juxtaposing process S318. The item data thatfulfills the user's intention among the above four items is assumed tobe the second item data from the top, leading to the selection of thisitem data with the touch of a “Select” button 392. The retrieval display390 is closed automatically following a selecting operation as describedabove or with the touch of a “Close” button 394.

Then, a reference data display step S324 contained in the flowchart ofFIG. 5 is performed to display the selected item data on a part of theposting display.

FIG. 9 is a view showing the bulletin board posting display 350 thatappears with the item data displayed by the reference data display stepS324. Item data 410 (exactly, the item data ID that specifies the itemdata 410) is supposed to be attached to the relevant posting data. Inthis place, a “Delete” button 412 is touched in a case where theattachment of the item data 410 is canceled.

The user makes a choice as to whether or not an addition of any otheritem data to the above item data 410 is required (S326), and, when noaddition of any other item data is required, brings the posting intoexecution with the touch of the “Post” button 358 on the bulletin boardposting display 350 of FIG. 9 (S328).

Then, the data display server 114 stores the above posting data in theposting database 148. When the browsing request from the user is causedby a posting browsing step S330, the display of the posting-finishedposting data and the item data 410 specified by the item data ID of theposting data are performed in response to the above request.

FIG. 10 is a view showing the display of the posting data with abulletin board 440. In the display of the above bulletin board, there isposted up a posting message 442 together with item data 444 of the itembeing referred to in the message. The different user is permitted tosend a reply to this posting message by touching a “Reply” button 446.

Fifth Embodiment Relational Metadata Generating Process

Sending the reply to the posting data by the different user carries outthe inter-user information interchange. Further, in a case where theinterchanged posting data contains the attached reference data, thereference data in the respective posting data are associated with eachother, resulting in the creation of the relational metadata. In a fifthembodiment of the present invention, how to associate the reference data(the item data in the fifth embodiment of the present invention) witheach other and a relational metadata generating process are described indetail.

FIG. 11 is a view showing a bulletin board posting display 450 availablefor sending a reply to the posting data. It is assumed that the replyuser makes the entries of the user name “Hanako” into a user name field452 and the title into a title field 454 on the bulletin board postingdisplay 450 and then creates a message on a reply text field 456.Further, when the attempt is made to attach the item data also to theresponsive posting data, the attachment of item data 460 to theresponsive posting data is performed through the retrieval of the itemdata as described in the fourth embodiment. In this place, in responseto a question of the earlier user who posted the posting user, the itemsuited to the above question is being recommended. After theconfirmation of the message and the item data 460, the reply user bringsthe responsive posting to a completion with the touch of a “Post” button462.

FIG. 12 is a view showing the bulletin board 440 that appears includingthe responsive posting data having been replied as described above.There are displayed the first posting data attached to an upper side ofthe display, and the responsive posting data attached to a lower side ofthe display so as to be placed in a “child” position located when theabove first posting data is specified as “parent”. On the bulletin board440, there are also displayed the item data 444 attached to the parentposting data and item data 470 attached to the child posting data. In acase where a re-reply to the responsive posting is further required, a“Reply” button 472 is touched to call the bulletin board posting display450.

As described above, the item data of the posting data having a“parent-to-child” relationship are judged to be those satisfying theprescribed relationship with each other, and the association of the itemdata with each other is performed by the relational metadata. Therelational metadata generating process is described in detail in thefollowing.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a flow of the relational metadatagenerating process. Upon a reception of the posting data, the datadisplay server 114 firstly ascertains whether or not the receivedposting data matches “child”, more specifically, is in the form of theresponsive posting (S510). In this process, the generation of therelational metadata is caused on the assumption that the two postingdata bear the certain relationship with each other in a case where theposting data satisfy the relationship of “child” to “parent”.

Then, one item data ID out of one or more item data IDs contained inoriginal posting data specified as the parent posting data and one itemdata ID out of the item data IDs contained in the responsive postingdata specified as the child posting data are acquired (Steps S512 andS514). The retrieval of the already existing relational metadatagenerated by associating the above two item data IDs with each other isperformed (S516). In a case where the above relational metadata exists(S518), the numerical value of the degree of relevancy of the relationalmetadata is incremented by one (S520). In this process, the degree ofrelevancy is expressed in terms of an integer, and an initial valuethereof is one. On the other hand, in a case where no relationalmetadata exists (S518), the creation of the relational metadata is newlyperformed (S522). A format of the relational metadata is the same as onehaving been already described in the third embodiment, and hence, thedescription thereof is omitted.

Then, it is ascertained whether or not a processing of all the item dataIDs of the responsive posting data is finished (S524), and a set of thesteps from S514 is repeated until non-processed item data IDs of theresponsive posting data to one item data ID of the original posting datarun out. Next, it is ascertained that the processing of all the itemdata IDs of the original posting data is finished (S526), and a set ofthe steps from S512 is repeated until the item data IDs of the originalposting data run out. In this manner, the creation of the relationalmetadata is repeated by times as many as a product of the number of itemdata IDs contained in the original posting data and the number of itemdata IDs contained in the responsive posting data, that is, allconceivable combinations, resulting in the creation of omission-lessrelational metadata.

While the relational metadata generating process of the fifth embodimentof the present invention has described the creation of the relationalmetadata with the use of the “parent-to-child” relationship, it is alsoallowable to associate, with each other, twin-related posting data in athread that is a smaller module capable of being activated from a singletask. The degree of relevancy in this case is defined depending on aninter-posting data distance or how close the inter-posting datarelationship is.

The relational metadata is not limited merely to the above“parent-to-child” and “twin-related” relationships, and a calculation ofthe degree of relevancy may be also performed with a degree ofsimilarity of the independent posting data to each other. For instance,it is also allowable to apply a method of calculating an inter-documentdistance depending on a rate of the occurrence of words from the articlecontained in the posting data by means of a natural language processingetc. According to the natural language processing, the degree ofrelevancy may be calculated high from phrases expressive of therelationship, such as “excellent” and “optimum” contained in thearticle.

Furthermore, it is also allowable to perform the calculation of thedegree of relevancy in consideration of reliability and influences ofthe user who posted the posting data. Even when the contents of theresponsive posting data are the same, a prominent critic of the presentitem and an unspecified individual user are supposed to be differentfrom each other in the reliability of the attached item data. Thus, thereliability of the degree of relevancy itself may be also increased byrelatively adding the reliability and the influences of the user asdescribed above to the degree of relevancy. The configuration like theabove makes it possible to put restrictions on an increase of the degreeof relevancy, even when the attempt to strategically establish theassociation with a specific item is made by a specific user.

An accumulation of the degree of relevancy, if performed simply asdescribed above, causes an item of long standing to be expressed by ahigher degree of relevancy, resulting in a failure to properly comparethe degrees of relevancy with each other. However, this may be solved byan introduction of the concept of a time into the above degree ofrelevancy. That is, the use of a configuration of reducing or resettingthe degree of relevancy with a lapse of a prescribed time causes thedegree of relevancy to be updated properly

Sixth Embodiment Relational Data Juxtaposing Process

The creation of the relational metadata as described above makes itpossible to provide the relational data associated with the referencedata by making use of the created relational metadata. The relationaldata provided as described above leads to a promotion of therecommendation of the item etc. for the user, thereby permitting theuser not only to confirm the product information of the reference databut also to browse the items closely related to the reference data. Theabove relational data is referred to at the time when, with reference toall the displays adapted to the display of the reference data at theretrieval time etc., the attempt is made to confirm the productinformation of the displayed reference data.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a flow of the relational data juxtaposingprocess. The user makes a choice of the item data (S530) with a click ofthe item data 444 on the bulletin board 440 shown in FIG. 10, forinstance, for the detailed browsing of the item data attached to theposting data. In response to the above choice, the data display server114 acquires the item data 444 from the reference database 132 (S532).The details of the item data 444 having been acquired in this manner aredisplayed at an upper side of the product information display (S534).

Then, the data display server 114 attempts to acquire the relationalmetadata containing the item data ID of the item data 444 from therelational database 152 (S536), and in a case where plural pieces ofrelational metadata exist (S538), rearranges the relational datadepending on the degree of relevancy of the relational metadata (S540),and the rearranged relational data are displayed at a lower side of theitem data 444, that is, a lower side of the product information display(S542).

FIG. 15 is a view showing a product information display 544 that appearsby the relational data juxtaposing process. On this display, there isdisplayed product information including detailed information 546 of theitem data 444 attached to the posting data and relational data 548associated with the item data 444. The reference to the productinformation permits the user to obtain not only the item data 444, butalso the associated item data having the strong relationship given bymaking use of the relational metadata and also being more persuasive tothe user.

[Modification 1: Type of Relationship]

While the relational data juxtaposing means 156 employs the relationaldata display order determined depending on only the degree of relevancyof the relational metadata, the display order is further allowable to bedefined with reference to a type of relationship.

The user is permitted to select the type of relationship amongprescribed relationships. The above relationships are supposed toinclude a way to use the reference data, a function, an effect, acombination, similarity, a purchase history and other various relations.

FIG. 16 shows a bulletin board posting display 550 further available forthe selection of the type of relationship. In this case, it is assumedthat the user who posted the posting gives a question about thecombination on the attached item. Thus, after the selection of“Combination” as a rough item from a relation type field 552, “Question”is further being selected from a detailed relation field 554.

The above type of relationship is used for a rearrangement of therelational data individually or in cooperation with the above degree ofrelevancy. The user may set at will depending on the user's tastewhether the relational data should be arranged on the productinformation display in the descending order of the degree of relevancyor according to the type of relationship at the time of the browsing ofthe posting data.

FIG. 17 is a view showing a product information display 540 that appearsin a case of the parallel entry of the relational data depending on thetype of relationship. In this display, there are displayed item data 562and 564. The item data 562 is the relational data having a relationshipin a combination with the item data 444, and the item data 564 is therelational data having a relationship in similarity to the item data444.

(Modification 2: Data Display Server 114)

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the data displayserver 114 in a modification of the present invention. The above datadisplay server 114 is composed of the data display control unit 130, thereference database 132, the message creating means 134, the keywordinput means 136, the reference data retrieving means 138, the referencedata juxtaposing means 140, the reference data selecting means 142, thereference data display means 144, the posting means 146, the postingdatabase 148, the relational metadata generating means 150, therelational database 152, the posting browsing means 154, the relationaldata juxtaposing means 156, a user database 600 and a relation countingmeans 602.

The duplicate description of the components having the substantiallysame function as those having already been described with reference tothe data display server 114 in the second embodiment is omitted, andthis section mainly describes the reference database 132 having adifferent configuration, the user database 600 and the relation countingmeans 602.

The reference database 132 holds category data of the reference data,together with the reference data. This is for the purpose offacilitating the data management by classifying each reference data, inparticular, the item data and the service data for each category andfurther by layering the category itself.

The user database 600 holds the user data specified as personalinformation of the user. The user database 600 is effective in providingmore useful information for the user in cooperation with the relationaldatabase 152. Further, the information of the posting data may bereflected in the user data.

The relation counting means 602 counts the relational metadatacontaining the two reference data IDs equal to each other. In a casewhere the identical relational metadata exists, the above relationalmetadata generating process increments the degree of relevancy of theidentical relational metadata, and generates no further identicalrelational metadata. In the modification of the present invention, evenif the identical relational metadata exists, new relational metadata iscreated. Then, whenever the relational data juxtaposing process iscarried into execution, a counting of the relational metadata isperformed with the relation counting means 602, and a count value istreated as the degree of relevancy. A configuration requiring nodeletion of the relational metadata as described above makes it possibleto individually examine the reason for the relationship with referenceto the reference data.

FIG. 19 is a view showing a database structure in the data displayserver 114 of the modification of the present invention. In thissection, the duplicate description on the configuration having beendescribed in the second embodiment is also omitted.

The reference database 132 is newly provided with category data 610. Thecategory data 610 contains a category ID 612, a category name 614 and aparent category ID 616. The category ID 612 is an ID of a presentcategory, and the category name 614 is a name of the category. Theparent category ID 616 is an ID of a parent category equivalent to ahigher-order concept of the present category. The parent category ID 616causes the category to be layered. The category data 610 described theabove makes it possible to facilitate the management of the item data.

The data display server 114 may also have the user database 600. Theuser database 600 is supposed to hold user data 620 containing thepersonal information of the user. The user data 620 is composed of auser ID 622, a user name 624, a password 626, a mail address 628, acategory of interest 630, a retrieval history 632, a browse history 634,a posting history 636 and a purchase history 638. The user ID 622 is anID of a registered user, and the user name 624 is a name of theregistered user. The password 626 is a password required together withthe user ID 622 for the user to log in, and the mail address 628 is usedto give information etc. to the user. The category of interest 630 isdirectly used to extract the relational data, and each of the retrievalhistory 632, the browse history 634, the posting history 636 and thepurchase history 638 is used to narrow down the relational data.

FIG. 20 is a view showing a personal information entry display 650available for the creation of the above user data. The user makes theentries of the user name “Taro” into a user name field 652, a personalpassword of the user into a password field 654 and an e-mail addressinto a mail address field 656 and sets a category of interest up tothree at maximum in a category field 658. After the confirmation of theset contents, a user's registration is performed by touching a“Determine” button 660. It is also allowable to cancel the registrationby touching a “Cancel” button 662.

A process of rearranging the relational data by making use of the aboveuser data 620 is now described.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing a flow of the relational data juxtaposingprocess according to the modification of the present invention. In thissection, the duplicate description on the processes having beendescribed in the sixth embodiment is omitted.

In a case where the relational metadata exists (S538), the rearrangementof the relational data depending on the degree of relevancy of therelational metadata is once performed (S540). Then, the rearrangement ofthe relational data in the certain order suited to the user's taste isfurther performed according to the user data 620 of the user whofinishes making the reference to the posting (S680). The relational dataare displayed in the rearranged order as described above (S542). Thepriority order, that is, the arrangement order of the relational data ischanged by the user who is browsing the posting as described above.

FIG. 22 is a view showing a product information display 544 that appearsin a case of the display of the relational data with the user data 620reflected. It is assumed that “Taro” who finishes the user registrationin FIG. 20 is selecting “AV apparatus”, “Music” and “Outdoor” as thecategories of interest. Thus, as compared with the product informationdisplay 544 of FIG. 17 in which the priority order of the relationaldata is determined only depending on the degree of relevancy, item data690 is newly added as “Recommendable item for Mr. Taro” to ensure thatthe service more suited to the taste of the user “Taro” is provided.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to beunderstood that the present invention is not limited to the aboveembodiments. It is also to be understood that various modifications orchanges will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departingfrom the scope of the invention as defined in claims, and that thesemodifications or changes fall within technical bounds of the presentinvention as a matter of course.

While the above embodiments have described the data display system andthe data display method by giving the user terminal and the data displayserver, for instance, the present invention is not limited to the aboveform, and it is also supposed that there are provided in the form of anapplication in one terminal.

Further, while the confirmation of the product information of thereference data attached to the posting data is given as the instance inwhich the relational data is displayed, the present invention is notlimited to the posting data, and it is also allowable to, when the userperformed the retrieval of a specific item by making use of a retrievalsite on the Internet, display related items specified as the relationaldata derived by the relational metadata together with the retrievedspecific item. The relational metadata or the relational data issupposed to be available in various methods.

Furthermore, while in the above description of the embodiments, thenumber of the reference data IDs contained in the relational metadata islimited to two, it is also allowable to give the definition of therelational metadata containing three or more reference data IDsdepending on the purpose of providing the service. In addition to theabove item data or service data, various data which can be referred todata including those about general estate such as land or marine andintangible assets such as music may be also applied to the referencedata described the above.

The present invention is capable of being applied to the data displayserver that performs the display of the prescribed data by making use ofthe inter-data relationship, and also to the data display method and theprogram thereof.

What is claimed:
 1. An information processing apparatus comprising: apost information analyzing unit configured to analyze post informationcorresponding to item information, the post information being includedin content posted by a user in social media; a related informationgenerating unit configured to generate related information based onreference information associated with the content and the postinformation; and a recommendation information displaying unit configuredto display recommendation information based on the related informationand to display a recommendation reason.
 2. The information processingapparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a user databaseconfigured to store user data, including at least one category ofinterest of the user; and a reference database configured to store theitem information and category information, each piece of iteminformation corresponding to at least one piece of category information.3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, whereinthe recommendation information includes one or more pieces of iteminformation related to the item information corresponding to the postinformation, and the one or more pieces of the recommendationinformation are displayed in order of relevancy to the at least onecategory of interest of the user stored in the user database.
 4. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein thedisplayed recommendation reason describes a relationship between theitem information corresponding to the post information and one or morepieces of item information included in the recommendation information.5. An information processing method comprising: analyzing postinformation corresponding to item information, the post informationbeing included in content posted by a user in social media; generatingrelated information based on reference information associated with thecontent and the post information; and displaying recommendationinformation based on the related information and to display arecommendation reason.
 6. The information processing method according toclaim 5, further comprising: storing user data, including at least onecategory of interest of the user; and storing the item information andcategory information, each piece of item information corresponding to atleast one piece of category information.
 7. The information processingmethod according to claim 6, wherein the recommendation informationincludes one or more pieces of item information related to the iteminformation corresponding to the post information, and the one or morepieces of the recommendation information are displayed in order ofrelevancy to the at least one category of interest of the user stored inthe user database.
 8. The information processing method according toclaim 5, wherein the displayed recommendation reason describes arelationship between the item information corresponding to the postinformation and one or more pieces of item information included in therecommendation information.
 9. A non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium storing computer-readable instructions thereon, which,when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform aninformation processing method comprising: analyzing post informationcorresponding to item information, the post information being includedin content posted by a user in social media; generating relatedinformation based on reference information associated with the contentand the post information; and displaying recommendation informationbased on the related information and to display a recommendation reason.10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according toclaim 9, further comprising: storing user data, including at least onecategory of interest of the user; and storing the item information andcategory information, each piece of item information corresponding to atleast one piece of category information.
 11. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium according to claim 10, wherein therecommendation information includes one or more pieces of iteminformation related to the item information corresponding to the postinformation, and the one or more pieces of the recommendationinformation are displayed in order of relevancy to the at least onecategory of interest of the user stored in the user database.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 9,wherein the displayed recommendation reason describes a relationshipbetween the item information corresponding to the post information andone or more pieces of item information included in the recommendationinformation.